The typical vacuum cleaner makes use of vacuum pressure to draw air and debris adjacent to the vacuum cleaner head into a collection device. Many different forms of vacuum cleaner heads have been developed in the past to aid the debris collection effort. "Beater" bars are a typical example of such auxiliary devices. The "beater" bar is used to agitate an area of the surface to be cleaned with the hope of loosening debris that would not otherwise be loosened by the air being drawn into the vacuum cleaner. The difficulty with "beater" bars is that they require power for operation, they cause wear on the surface being cleaned, and they eventually wear out and require replacement. Still, the general objective of creating agitation of the surface being cleaned is sound, since vacuum pressure alone is often not effective in removing all debris.
Commercial cleaners often make use of liquid cleaning solutions that are pressure sprayed on an area immediately ahead of a high pressure vacuum head. The cleaner solution will loosen much of the soil or other materials that has become attached to the surface to be cleaned. The vacuum head is then expected to draw up all the cleaner solution and loosened material, leaving the surface both dry and clean. Unfortunately, this is very seldom the case, since a vacuum system working alone is typically not powerful enough to lift all the solution up from the surface. Much of the solution (and dirt) is left behind.
Various attempts have been made in the past to further improve vacuum cleaning systems. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,663,984 granted to Anthony et al. May 23, 1972 suggests the use of pressurized air for creating agitation and assisting drying. In fact two sources of pressurized air are used on the Anthony cleaning head. A source of heated, pressurized air is directed from a discharge above and to one side of the vacuum intake opening. The second source of pressurized air is spaced to an opposite side of the intake opening, between two sets of liquid spray nozzles. The second source of pressurized air is said to produce agitation between the two fluid discharges while the first source is used primarily for drying the cleaned surface. All the nozzles and air pressure housings are connected to a specially designed portable two-tank pumping and vacuum arrangement that are advisedly connected to different electrical circuits to avoid circuit overloading.
While the Anthony system is a likely improvement over "beater bar" systems, a need remains for a cleaner head and system that does not require specialized pumping systems, and that will provide improved cleaning and drying action for various surfaces to be cleaned and dried.